Can We Really Do It Over and Over Again Until We Get It Right?

A Review of Life after Life, by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life

Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson is as the title states, life after life. The story is primarily set during World War II in Germany and England where we meet the protagonist, Ursula Todd who dies at birth during a cold and snowy night in 1910 in Fox Corner, a British country estate, while on that same night she survives and thus begins to live her life again and again.

I must admit that I purchased the novel while browsing at Barns and Noble on their recommendation table. I bought the book because I love reading British women writers and historical fiction. What I did not know is that I would take seven years to complete the novel! I started reading it after I purchased it, then put it down because of other obligations and truthfully a lack of focus. Over the years I would pick it up again thinking that I could continue where I left off, but I could not initially because of the plot and structure of the book. However, when the light finally came on and I analyzed the structure and its relationship to the title, I thoroughly enjoyed the genius of Kate Atkinson.

Atkinson structures the plot in repetition divided into sections. Ursula lives various versions of her life but does not know this, but the reader does. Atkinson’s protagonist seemingly can change the course of history by killing “Fuhrer” (Adolf Hitler) in one of Ursula’s many lives, while at the same time she falls off a roof to her death at age four. The epigraph of the book includes a quote by Ursula’s beloved brother Edward Beresford Todd (Teddy): “What if we have a chance to do it again and again until we finally did it right? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Such is Ursula’s life, but the question for the reader remains, did she finally do it right?

Ursula Todd is the third of five children of the very opinionated Sylvie and mild-mannered Hugh Todd.  She is closest to her sister Pamela (I could not stop thinking about Pamela in Samuel Richardson’s Pamela). As a young child, Ursula experiences déjà vu and is taken to a psychiatrist, Dr. Kellet who introduces her to Buddhism, which could possibly explain the reincarnation aspect in the novel, except Ursula does not come back from death in another form; she is still Ursula, but she makes different choices. Through Ursula, the reader begins to ponder the “What if?” of life. After all, life is about choices and unknowingly Ursula is allowed to experience other choices. 

For example, in one section Ursula is in an abusive marriage to a deceptive man who almost kills her. She met the man on the streets of London after dropping a bag of groceries and eventually marries him. At this point in her life, Ursula is vulnerable and living alone in London. Later, this scene plays out differently. The man who was her husband before is a mere stranger who helps her pick up her bags and continues on his way. The two never met again. Atkinson presents another scenario of choices. What if Ursula did not accept a date from the strange man? What if he did not ask her out? What if she was not vulnerable?

Since the genre is Historical fiction, Atkinson gives us an inside look at the effects of World War II as Ursula lives through some turbulent times in her life. Her brother Teddy flies planes and her older brother Maurice serves in a high capacity in the war. Ursula volunteers on a crew that does clean-up work after the Germans bomb the city to almost ruins. Although she does not learn any lessons through these long sections, she does witness the ugliness of war; death and destruction on a personal level. At one point her brother is MIA and later is presumed to be dead, but even he resurrects at the end of the book or does he? Is it one of her variations yet again? There are some romantic moments during this long stretch; she dates a married officer in the British army and has a quick affair with her childhood crush.

Throughout all of her lives, Ursula, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz understands the importance of home. Ursula is always thinking of her childhood home, especially during troubled times. Perhaps it is the ugliness of war that makes her long for the beauty of Fox Corner. It serves as a testament to the reality that no matter how many lives anyone lives, the place we call home is where it all begins and is forever in our hearts. It is where it all begins with the people we love and the beauty that envelops it all.

Near the end of the book, during one of Ursula’s sessions, Dr. Kellet tells Sylvie, “Time is a construct, in reality, everything flows, no past or present, only the now.” This statement is a summation of Life After Life where Ursula Todd lives in the “now” and the reader has to follow.

I think the book is brilliant even though it is my first Atkinson book. I did have to reference my Oxford dictionary more than I would like to mention because I was not familiar with too many of the terms. I do not want to call them British terms or antiquated terms, but the upside is that I have increased my vocabulary and to Ms. Atkinson and Ursula, I am grateful.

Also, when the television series Russian Doll debuted, I immediately thought of Life after Life, but it died and Ursula continues to live over and over again. I must also note and thank Ursula for the abundant references to the literary canon. I love a well-read woman!